If you haven’t noticed, the Florida Panthers are playing some good, tough hockey. Their win over the Penguins last night showed that they’re a team that will keep finding a way to hang around and make things happen and the guy at the heart of it all is Stephen Weiss.

Weiss is the team’s former first-round pick and the one star on the team that didn’t come from out of town. With the team playing well and on the rise and without a captain, it’s time to reward Weiss for time served with some terrible Panthers teams and to be the true face of the franchise.

Coach Kevin Dineen tells the Sun Sentinel’s Harvey Fialkov that Weiss is the guy driving play for the team and carrying the load offensively and defensively. I don’t know about you guys, but that sure sounds like the play of a captain to me.

The Panthers are the only team in the NHL without a team captain after Colorado put the “C” on Milan Hejduk. While Dale Tallon and Dineen wanted to see how the host of new players fit in place in Florida before figuring out who the captain would be, the choice has been obvious all along. Rewarding the one guy who’s survived as the team’s lone career Panther makes too much sense to not do it.